Commitments

As a fellowship of believers committed to glorifying Christ, spreading the Gospel and seeing renewal in the church, each member of the MCM Fellowship, has a covenant relationship to the Lord and one another. This involves making certain commitments to one another, before the Lord.

Together we commit to:

• Seek to respond to the Holy Spirit’s call to ever greater love and intimacy with God and the expression of His love to one another such that we come into the unity that Jesus so fervently prayed for in John 17:20-26.

The Mainstream Christian Ministries leadership commits to:

• Support each and every Fellowship Member through prayer, encouragement, advice and counsel; honouring and respecting you, your calling and ministry; believing in you, expecting the best of you, and ready to stand our ground in defending you;
• Deal with any serious difficulties or conflicts in a timely manner with the purpose of bringing Christ’s healing restoration to all involved;
• Doing all we can to meet the needs of our members in developing their ministries, freely acknowledging when we are unable to meet any particular need; while supporting their freedom to have those needs met through other sources as God provides;
• Encourage and facilitate the development of deep fellowship between the members of the Fellowship;
• Take full responsibility for the decisions we make; holding ourselves accountable to both God and the membership with regard to any action or policy which effects the MCM Fellowship;
• Maintain openness in our decision making – encouraging, respecting and prayerfully considering input from all members (believing that the whole counsel of God is present in the whole body of Christ, not any one member – regardless of their gifting or position);
• Welcome criticism as an opportunity to learn and grow – taking the pain of it to our Lord for His healing and responding to the critic with love, grace and humility;
• Obey God rather than try to please man. While openly and prayerfully considering all advice, suggestions and criticism; we will be faithful in our duty to discern what God may be saying to us, in order to stay true to the calling and vision God has given us for Mainstream Christian Ministries; not swayed by the opinions of others.

MCM Fellowship Members commit to:

• Pray for each other’s spiritual, emotional and physical needs; and wherever the Lord provides, to help one another in practical and material ways, knowing that all we receive is a gift of God, and we are called to be stewards, not owners of His resources; (2 Peter 1:3; James 1:17, 2:14-17; 2 Corinthians 8:14; Acts 4:32)
• Respect each other’s ministries as essential and equally important parts of the Body of Christ;
• Encourage one another by written testimony, sharing insights, counsel and reports of the work of God;
• Be open to the advice, counsel, prophecy and admonition offered by the Fellowship Leadership and other members, when offered in love and a desire to encourage and build you up in your ministry and relationship with the Lord (Colossians 3:11-17); testing all things against the Word of God through the guidance of the Holy Spirit;
• Share the word of God, fellowship and spiritual blessing whenever the Lord provides the opportunity and means, through visiting and preaching the Gospel in each other’s areas, and in joining together in such conferences, meetings and seminars organised by Mainstream for the Fellowship;
• To faithfully and transparently account for all donations, gifts and contributions, financial or in kind, that are made to the work of your ministry;
• To faithfully carry out the work of your ministry according to the Lord’s guidance and direction, ensuring that you stay true to the Scriptures and calling, and to correctly and efficiently use the resources that are provided for ministry, as faithful stewards of the Lord;
• Encourage and set an example of unity, openness, integrity, mutual respect and love among all believers in Christ Jesus; seeking to eliminate competitiveness, division and backbiting, self-serving practices and isolation within the Body of Christ; taking full responsibility for your decisions and actions;
• Endeavour at all times to fulfil Jesus’ command as recorded in John 13:34-35: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”